Drive circuits are used extensively in automotive and industrial applications for switching power to ground referred loads. For example, in an automotive application, in order to actuate the power lift gate and the rear window defroster in a vehicle, an electronic drive system having a number of drive circuits is required. Currently, two drive circuits are used to enable the two functions of the lift gate and a separate drive circuit is used to enable the function of the rear window defroster. In this case, the two functions of the lift gate include a locking and unlocking function, while the function of the rear window defroster includes a heating function. Altogether, three drive circuits are used to enable the three different functions. With this configuration, enabling the functions of the lift gate and the rear window defroster can be performed independently. However, using separate drive circuits for enabling the three functions can be costly for such applications.
Therefore, there is a need for an electronic drive system that uses a plurality of drive circuits to enable a plurality of functions, wherein the plurality of drive circuits is less than the plurality of functions. In addition, there is a need for an electronic drive system that can enable any one of the plurality of the functions and have negligible effect on the remaining ones of the functions.